All posts tagged Hurricanes

A radar image from Wilmington, N.C. shows the eye of Hurricane Earl as it approached the coast on Thursday night.

As quickly as it grew and intensified, Hurricane Earl is now beginning to fade. Long Islanders should not let their guard down yet, however, as the eastern part of the Island will still likely experience nearly the full brunt of what Earl has left to give.

As you can see in The Journal’s Storm Tracker, Earl took an easterly jog at the last second before its closest approach to North Carolina’s Outer Banks Thursday night. This unexpected deviation probably spared the North Carolina coast from Earl’s strongest effects, and thankfully brought an end to the hurricane’s westward shift of the previous few days. Greater New York is also benefiting from this new easterly shift, as much of Earl’s winds will stay further offshore when the storm visits our area Friday night.

Despite the weakening trend, the chances of feeling tropical storm force effects in the Hamptons have not waned from our predictions Thursday: Montauk’s odds of tropical-storm conditions are still 70%. Elsewhere in the region, coastal New Jersey and Connecticut face a 33% chance, and the New York metro area has a 25% shot. Read More »

The ad, part of an ongoing series of public service announcements produced by the office, will feature ordinary New Yorkers explaining what they would do in the case of an emergency or recounting stories of how they’ve reacted to disaster.

Parts of the PSA were shot Thursday outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall, where the OEM was holding one its annual outreach programs.

Interviewees were asked if they have “go bags” with first aid kits, keys and medications. Debbie MacDougal, a nurse who appeared before the camera for an audition, said that she the first thing she packs is extra cash to pay for any needs if she’s evacuated.

Hurricane Earl finished traversing the Gulf Stream Wednesday night, and he has emerged like a bodybuilder on steroids. The massive storm is now just 10 mph away from officially becoming the northernmost Category 5 hurricane in Atlantic basin history, and parts of the East Coast will begin feeling Earl’s arrival as soon as Thursday afternoon.

Only eight storms as strong as Hurricane Earl have passed within 100 miles of its present location since record keeping began in 1853, and seven went on to make landfall in the U.S. or Canada. The most recent was Hurricane Betsy’s New Orleans landfall in 1965.

The good news is that Earl has likely peaked in intensity. The not-so-good news is that the hurricane’s track continues to shift westward. Tropical-storm conditions are now almost certain for much of the East Coast. Read More »

Long Island was placed under a tropical storm watch as the Greater New York area continued its preparations Wednesday for Hurricane Earl’s northbound push.

Updated forecasts allowed local officials to drop some emergency plans. Suffolk County officials had mentioned the possibility of evacuating Fire Island but decided Wednesday not to take that step. The Fire Island Ferry service was still up and running.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy acknowledged that the storm was a concern, but said the hurricane’s current path made it look as if it would stay to the west. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to get hit head on,” he told Metropolis on Wednesday. “Really, I think we’re all just wondering how close it’s going to get.”

The county’s emergency officials have taken precautionary measures like preparing shelters, but none have been opened so far, Levy said.

Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center, said the storm would likely affect the region’s weather by Friday, although he said it was too early to predict how the hurricane would behave when it neared the northeast. Hurricane Earl is expected to approach the North Carolina coast by late Thursday, he said. Read More »

Worse, experts say they fear that no one would take warnings seriously, even with a storm headed their way. People in the region, especially those who’ve been through a bad nor’easter, think they know the worst of what Mother Nature can deliver. But even a minor hurricane that lands in the wrong spot at the wrong time would bring destruction far worse than the region has ever seen.

“When people ask me what the biggest risks to New York are in a hurricane, I say ‘New Yorkers,’” said Nicholas K. Coch, a professor of Coastal Geology at Queens College. “They think they’re immune.” Read More »

The Fujiwhara Effect: Hurricane Earl, left, and Tropical Storm Fiona, locked in a pas de deux.

East Coast residents might be tempted to allow themselves a temporary sigh of relief Wednesday morning, as Hurricane Earl was downgraded to a Category 3 overnight. However, with the long-term forecast track still nudging westward, the chances that Earl tracks near Greater New York’s coastal areas are still increasing.

The odds that New York City will directly experience tropical storm conditions — sustained winds of 40mph with higher gusts — have risen to one in four. If you’re planning a weekend on the Jersey Shore or in the Hamptons, it’s now a coin toss (50/50). And as we mentioned here Tuesday, any unexpected deviation westward from the current projected track could increase these odds dramatically.

All that said, several competing forces will determine Earl’s ultimate path and strength. Read More »

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Hurricane Earl was spinning furiously near the Turks and Caicos Islands with sustained winds of 135 mph after rapidly intensifying yesterday from a Category 1 to a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Hurricane watches have also been posted for coastal North Carolina. (Follow Earl’s progress on The Journal’s interactive storm tracker.)

Over the next 48 hours, the hurricane will traverse the warm waters of the Gulf stream before a likely landfall on North Carolina’s Outer Banks sometime Thursday as a Category 3. That said, any westward deviation could spell trouble down the line for Greater New York, which hasn’t experienced a direct storm hit since Hurricane Gloria struck the region in 1985. Read More »